As I read A Dog’s Purpose, I wondered how it feels to be each of my dogs. How much each little furry snuggle doggies loves me. I wondered what they think about their life.

I always ask Jeb if he is happy. I tell him how thankful I am we found each other. I remind him he never has to eat from the trash on the streets and that he will always be warm and safe here.

I ask Bailey Mae if she knows she is loved. Does she know how spoiled she is? Is there anything more she would ask for?

In A Dog’s Purpose, the dog doesn’t understand words except for ones like “car ride” or “biscuit,” but he understands everything going on with his people.

This dog is very much like Jeb and Bailey Mae. They know words like “treat,” “potty,” “walk.” These words bring them great joy. Mention the words, “Bath” or “Tick, as” and they seek a hiding place.

“Dogs have important jobs, like barking when the doorbell rings, but cats have no function in a house whatsoever.” ― W. Bruce Cameron, A Dog’s Purpose

A Dog’s Purpose fed my soul. It made me realize how much my dogs and I love one another.

In the book, the dog dies and comes back a dog. I think Cameron creates a fictional world that rings true with my reality. I believe dogs connect with us. I think dogs understand us. I believe dogs take care of us.

I’ve shared with you how it took me years to convince my husband we needed a dog. I told him the kids need a dog to talk to as they grow up. He laughed a mocked me, saying, “You speak to your dog?!” Then on February 13, 2011, we brought home Bailey Mae. She was just six weeks old. She melted my husband’s heart. She is so his dog. The two are inseparable.

It just solidified in my heart that we think we rescue a dog, but the reality is, a dog saves us.

“I guess I had never bothered to consider that there might such a thing as a boy, but now that I had found one, I thought it was just about the most wonderful concept in the world. He smelled of mud and sugar and an animal I’d never scented before, and a faint meaty odor clung to his fingers, so I licked them.” ― W. Bruce Cameron, A Dog’s Purpose

A Dog’s Purpose is divided into what I would say are four short stories. Each story highlights a different scenario in a dog’s life. There is an outcome from a stray dog. A story about a child’s pet. One about a working dog. They are all tied together because the dog in each is a single dog, reincarnated over and over, taking with it what it learned into its next life.

I love that thought that a dog, like a human, searches for his purpose. That it may play out over several lives. It seems to play on the most asked question of humanity, “Why are we here?”

I also kind of like this book because the dog’s name is Bailey.

I love A Dog’s Purpose for its story about human relationships, bonds between humans and man’s best friend. I love that thought that love never dies. Those we love are always with us.